The comfort function of motor-powered adjustment of a hatch of a motor vehicle has become increasingly established in the market in the last few years. This comfort function can basically be applied to all types of hatches. Accordingly, the term “hatch” is to be understood here in a comprehensive fashion. This term includes tailgates, rear lids, engine bonnets, doors, side doors, luggage floors or the like of a motor vehicle in so far as substantially upward adjustment of said components can be carried out.
A known tailgate arrangement (DE 102 25 887 A1) is equipped with an upwardly pivotable tailgate and with a drive arrangement which is assigned to the hatch, and a control arrangement which is assigned to the drive arrangement. In order to increase the comfort of use, the known hatch arrangement is controlled in such a way that the maximum hatch deflection can be set in a user-defined fashion.
The user-defined setting of the maximum hatch deflection is advantageous, for example, if the motor vehicle is always parked in the same garage or the like with a reduced ceiling height. When the maximum hatch deflection is learnt, hatch height can be limited to a maximum height with the result that collision of the tailgate with the ceiling region of the garage or the like is avoided.
Another advantage of the user-defined setting of the maximum hatch deflection becomes apparent, for example, in the case of tailgates of mini vans. In many cases, in the fully open state these tailgates cannot be reached by the user. This leads to a loss of comfort in particular in the cases in which the tailgate has an operator control on the side which points downward in the open state, with which operator control the motor-powered closing of the tailgate can be initiated. With the user-defined setting of the maximum hatch deflection it can be ensured that the operator control can always be reached by the respective user.
The setting of a static maximum hatch deflection referred to above gives rise to the above-mentioned advantages if the motor vehicle body is always kept at the same level. However, this is not the case if the motor vehicle is equipped with a vertically adjustable chassis which serves to set different vehicle body levels. Here, the vertical adjustment of the chassis is, for all intents and purposes, superimposed on the set static maximum hatch deflection. This can lead to a situation in which when the chassis is raised the hatch can no longer be reached, which is to be considered a loss of comfort. In the most unfavourable case, collisions may even occur with the ceiling area of a garage or the like, specifically if the hatch is adjusted to a previously set static maximum hatch deflection when the chassis has been inadvertently raised. This entails a reduction in the operational safety.